In this May 28 2015 file photo a Google employee gives a demonstration of Android Pay on a phone at Google I O 2015 in San Francisco AP Photo Jeff Chiu File Google Pay the search and advertising giants phone-based and online payment system is coming to Israel Company officials have held a series of meetings with Israeli regulators banks credit card companies and financial tech firms business journal The Marker reported Monday The system allows users to give Google their credit card information then shop at online sites and participating real-world stores using their Google accounts without having to hand each retailer their credit card information It is billed by Google as a means of payment that can streamline purchases allowing payment at stores through touching an NFC-enabled allowing electronic devices to communicate Android phone to a reader at the checkout sparing shoppers the need to reach for their wallets Free Sign Up Neither the customer nor the retailer pay a fee for the service but as with most of Googles free services it stores the purchase information and uses it to help deliver more relevant online ads to the customer Illustrative Google Pay screens on an Android phone Google website Google has been launching the service first announced in 2015 in a growing number of countries It began in the US and UK then launched in Japan in 2016 Russia Canada and Brazil in 2017 then Germany India and France in 2018 among many other countries The Israel launch is expected toward the end of 2019 according to the report Major retailers and banks have increasingly turned to online and digital payment systems in recent years that are seen as more convenient and secure than standard credit cards and cash But getting Israeli stores to switch to digital payment methods will require convincing them to install NFC card readers at checkout counters among other technologies Illustrative image of online shopping Poike via iStock by Getty Images Israel is often billed as the startup nation but it remains a relatively small retail market with heavily regulated financial institutions Israeli banks have only begun significant moves toward online banking and digital payment systems in recent years According to The Marker Israelis will at first be limited to using Google Pay only in online shopping which makes up a growing portion of the Israeli consumer market Purchases using phones at brick-and-mortar stores will come later It may take some time before the technology is ubiquitous in Israeli shops Bezalel Smotrich celebrates at the elections for the chairman and the Knesset list of the National Union party at the Crown Plaza hotel in Jerusalem on January 14 2019 Yonatan Sindel FLash90